Death metal star cast in Polish Hitler comedy

A controversial Polish rock star has been cast as former German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in a new comedy film about the Nazis.

Nergal; photo - behemoth.pl

Nergal; photo - behemoth.pl

Adam Darski, better known under his pseudonym of Nergal, is taking part in the Warsaw-based shoot this month.

The movie, which is entitled AmbaSSada (EmbaSSy), is the brainchild of established film director Juliusz Machulski, who is responsible for cult Polish comedies such as 1984's Sex Misja (Sex Mission) and art heist caper Vinci (2004).

The role of Hitler has gone to actor of the moment Robert Wieckiewicz, who won international acclaim in Agnieszka Holland's recent Holocaust drama In Darkness, and who will soon by gracing screens in Andrzej Wajda's biopic of Solidarity legend Lech Walesa.

The plot of Machulski's film revolves around a young couple living in present-day Warsaw. Their home happens to be the former German Embassy, and entering the elevator one day, they find themselves transported back to the eve of war in 1939.

“I've always wanted to make a contemporary film about Warsaw which at the same time has a dialogue with history,” the director told the Polish Press Agency.

Joachim von Ribbentrop is chiefly remembered in Poland as the signatory of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the August 1939 agreement between Berlin and Moscow that paved the way for the invasion of Poland by Germany and Russia.

Nergal, frontman of internationally acclaimed death metal band Behemoth, has repeatedly made headlines in Poland for his allegedly satanic behaviour.

The musician was taken to court for tearing up a bible on stage 2007, and in 2011 he sparked a campaign of protest when he was cast as a judge on talent-finding show The Voice of Poland, a programme that was produced by public broadcaster TVP. (nh)